Jodi Arias Jury Deadlocks on Death Penalty,, Mistrial Declared
Posted on Thu May 23, 2013 at 06:52:19 PM EST
Tags: Jodi Arias (all tags)
The jury has deadlocked on the sentence for Jodi Arias and the court declared a mistrial.
Under federal law, that would mean a life sentence. Not so in Arizona. A new jury will be seated to give the state another shot at killing her.
Under Arizona law, a hung jury in the death penalty phase of a trial requires a new jury to be seated to decide the punishment. If the second jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge would then sentence Arias to spend her entire life in prison or be eligible for release after 25 years. The judge cannot sentence Arias to death.
Arizona has some really misguided laws. If a jury can't unanimously decide on death, why does the state get a second bite of the apple? If there is one person who has a doubt about whether someone should be put to death, that should be doubt enough.
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